Recently, with improvements in communication infrastructures and advances in information communication techniques, information providing services using the Internet can be provided.
As such an information providing service system, an information presenting system is available, which accepts an order for data processing from a user and presents the price required to carry out the order.
In the above information presenting system, one apparatus calculates and presents an estimated amount, and hence the cost required to carry out an order and the presented amount factoring in predetermined information are not separately calculated.
For this reason, pieces of calculation reference information serving as references for the respective calculations must be collectively managed in one apparatus, and cumbersome processing is required to update the calculation reference information.
As conventional information presenting system like those described above, for example, the following two forms have been present.
FIG. 73 shows one form. In this form, an image service provider (to be referred to as a photosite hereinafter) is a service provider which provides services like keeping the image data photographed by a user using an image input device in a storage area in a server on the Internet and allowing the customer to browse the image data again at the time he/she requires it. A print service provider (to be referred to as a printsite hereinafter) is a service provider which has a printing apparatus of some kind, receives electronic documents such as the New Year's cards, wordprocessed documents, and images transferred through the Internet, prints out them as printed matter, and presents them as merchandise. In this form, the printsite has price calculation and settlement functions. That is, when a user requests the photosite to print an image, the photosite transfers the image information to the printsite by some means and entrusts the printsite to perform all subsequent processing, namely price calculation processing and settlement processing.
In this case, the printsite can arbitrarily determine prices for services and easily change prices or offer discounts, benefits, and the like in accordance with the campaigns and the like held in the printsite. When, however, the photosite is to provide services like offering a discount, benefit, or the like, the photosite must notify the printsite of the contents of the benefit offered by the photosite which is totally irrelevant to the benefits offered by the printsite. In the case of a photosite connected to a plurality of printsites, since price settings associated with printing are completely dependent on the printsites, no print services can be provided with price settings unique to the photosite.
FIG. 74 shows the other form. In this form, price calculation and settlement are done in the photosite, the photosite can freely offer its own service benefits and the like. However, since it is practically impossible to always carry out print orders to a plurality of printsites connected to the photosite at uniform prices, and hence the accounting information of each printsite must always be input and managed in a database or the like in the photosite.
The price system in each printsite is complicated, with discounts, benefits, and the like being set on a page count basis, and the respective printsites provide different services (in terms of the types and sizes of sheets that can be used for printing). It is therefore difficult to manage the unit price information of each printsite in the database in the photosite. In addition, every time a printsite adds or cut a service or changes a unit price, the unit information of the printsite which is managed in the database in the photosite must be updated, resulting in a heavy load on a database managing operator in the photosite.